Three Kutztown sisters perform in A Christmas Carol'

For the past five years, two Kutztown girls act in The Allentown Civic Theatre’s annual production of “A Christmas Carol,” with performances during the month of December.

Debello sisters Aiyana, 11, and Sora, 9, are joined by their youngest sister, Kaya, 5, who makes her debut in A Christmas Carol, an adaptation to the Charles Dickens story by director William Sanders and Sharon Glassman, President of Allentown Civic Theatre.

This year all three have principle roles, Aiyana portrays Bonnie Fessiwig, Sora was cast as Want, and Kaya is Becky Fezziwig.

It’s been a tradition for the past five years with the sisters performing in live theatre with the Allentown Civic Theatre. Christmas nostalgia begins each year with the auditioning and rehearsals for A Christmas Carol. Now that the youngest sister has the acting bug, too, it’s even more heart warming for the family.

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The sisters enjoy everything from the friends they make to the costumes to performing on stage.

“I like seeing people clap, laugh and have fun when we are all finished,” said Aiyana when asked what she liked best about being in A Christmas Carol.

Aiyana also had the opportunity to use her dance skills.

At the start of rehearsals, the Fezziwig party scene required some tweaking for dancing. Aiyana was quick on her feet, used her dancing skills and taught her fellow actors and actresses how to modify the steps to match the 8 count dance steps needed for the scene. In doing so, what was to be merely a role when Aiyana was to watch her fellow cast members dance in the scene, the assistant director actually added Aiyana to the scene as well. This made Aiyana the youngest member to the scene, of which she was humbly grateful.

“At first it was awkward dancing with an older guy and having to be held around the waist. But after a few rehearsals it was fun and the dance is fun,” she said.

Sora has been in A Christmas Carol since she was five years old. For the past three years she had auditioned for the character, ‘Want’, a haunting child to the Ghost of Christmas Past. Upon learning she had finally been cast as her desired role, Sora states, “I felt happy because I wanted that part for a long time because I thought it would be cool to be appearing on stage by a trapdoor.”

Sora said, “The best thing about being in A Christmas Carol is getting to have fun and at the end you get to hear all of the applause and it sounds cool because when you hear people clap it makes you feel like you did an awesome job.”

Kaya said, “I like to wear a really pretty dress and being spun around in the air. I like when we are done and when everyone claps because they really, really like it.”

Kaya added, “In the end we get to sing a really beautiful song.” The song Kaya refers to is “Angels We Have Heard on High.”

All three girls attend dance classes in Kutztown and instrumental lessons in nearby Blandon. The girls go to school at Seven Generations Charter School in Emmaus where Aiyana attends the 6th grade middle school program, Sora is in 4th grade and Kaya is in Kindergarten.

Upcoming shows are Dec. 19 at 7 p.m., Dec. 20 at 7 p.m. and Dec. 21 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit http://www.civictheatre.com/uncategorized/a-christmas-carol/.